The Tribes: Ascend website is now accepting signups for Hi-Rez Studios' revival of this beloved multiplayer shooter series. They offer client downloads and account registration for the free-to-play game, and here's word on what to expect:

Hi-Rez Studios, independent developer of AAA free-to-play online games, today announced the official release of Tribes: Ascend. The fast-paced, sci-fi multiplayer shooter has completed Beta testing and is now a live PC game available for digital download.

Tribes: Ascend is the world's fastest shooter. The game features jetpacks, skiing, vehicles, team-based gameplay, and cutting-edge graphics using Unreal 3 technology. With this official release, the game is available for download directly from the developer at www.tribesascend.com.

Recent additions include the CTF map Raindance, as well as a new game-mode called Capture and Hold. The Release build also includes a preview of the Custom Server functionality that will soon be available to players.

"For the past 15 months, we've had a very passionate dev team working hard toward this goal," said Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO. "Along the way some publishers told us modern gamers couldn't handle an FPS that was fast-paced and skill-based. We believe otherwise. Players seem to agree since we've had well over 500,000 join our Beta. We're excited to now grow the community further with the official release."

Sounds to me like "free-to-play" is just a thinly veiled demo in this instance. I don't see why people have a problem with that; the full price for unlocking everything is very reasonable, and it's great that they even allow you to grind the unlocks if you don't want to pay for it. I was going to try the game but the website appears to be down at the moment.

SXO wrote on Apr 12, 2012, 15:31:I was a beta tester and I just couldn't get into this game. It didn't really feel like a Tribes game to me. When I played the original two games, skiing was just an exploit that was very uncommon (probably became far more common after I stopped playing). Now skiing is a normal part of the game, so combat just feels like ranged jousting matches where players zip by each other taking shots until it devolves into a high speed chase where one is simply outnumbered. Now before those of you that like this playstyle flame me, let me just say this is my own personal opinion. Go on an enjoy the game as is, but I'll pass on this one.

You must have quit playing tribes within the first month or two. Skiing was known about and left in intentionally since the first patch.

Now, back in the day it required a modicum of skill or a script to perform, which was a very slight barrier to entry, but otherwise, it's been part of Tribes since maybe the first T1 patch.

As a matter of fact, I did indeed quit playing Tribes 2 in the first month simply because it crashed so often. I'm sure the patches eventually fixed it, but I had moved on by then, just don't remember to what. But as far as Starsiege: Tribes, I simply do not remember an abundance of people skiing everywhere. Maybe I just happened to play on servers with "noobs" all the time or something. Either way, the combat in Ascend just didn't do it for me. It just felt too chaotic and random. I felt like I was playing the battle mode of the very first Mario Kart for SNES, just randomly zipping by each other hoping to do damage. Then I decided "OK, let me just focus on objectives then," but without teamwork that failed as well.

leveling up is extremely slow though. very low XP gain even for a total domination round (at best 2000 xp) With paying apparently more than 5500xp for same skill. That means pay 2 winner's level up and unlock weapons 3 to 4 times as fast, have faster access to stuff etc.

Not gonna play for free to be PWNZ0RZZZ by people who're willing to spend hundreds..

The unlockables don't make that much difference. If someone is gonna PWNZORZZZ you, then they would do so with or without unlocks. Skill and teamwork are by far the biggest factors. By the time you get the hang of the game, you should have earned enough experience to unlock quite a bit.

That's not true, the unlockable items make a pretty big difference. I can usually give any player a one-on-one run for their money with a heavy/energy combo, but that's a class that has to be unlocked. So now I'm getting pwnd using heavy/repair while I grind enough points to unlock my class of choice. And it's going to take a while because the grinding is too much in this game. And of course, that's their way for you tp pay money; like all those FTP games.

Wait, what? You say you can give any player a run for their money with that combo, but then say you don't have that combo unlocked? Splain that plz.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell (I think...)

loomy wrote on Apr 12, 2012, 19:04:what bf3 taught me is that I'll play a shitty unlocking game for a while to unlock things so I can see what the game is really like.

what this tribes news story taught me is that I won't do that very often. I won't be putting myself through that again for a long time.

since I'm probably not alone I think all these companies racing toward the imaginary gold mine of free-to-play are going to get burnt when the player base dries up. then they'll smack their foreheads when they realize people will pay for a good game. the cycle continues

I think in this case, it's a little bit different. Tribes is a skill based games. Skill based games usually have a smaller player base when compared to games like Skyrim. So the only way they have a chance to make a good amount of money from this game, is by nickle and diming their player base with this type of business model. Serious Tribes gamers will fork out the cash.

what bf3 taught me is that I'll play a shitty unlocking game for a while to unlock things so I can see what the game is really like.

what this tribes news story taught me is that I won't do that very often. I won't be putting myself through that again for a long time.

since I'm probably not alone I think all these companies racing toward the imaginary gold mine of free-to-play are going to get burnt when the player base dries up. then they'll smack their foreheads when they realize people will pay for a good game. the cycle continues

Not gonna play for free to be PWNZ0RZZZ by people who're willing to spend hundreds..

The unlockables don't make that much difference. If someone is gonna PWNZORZZZ you, then they would do so with or without unlocks. Skill and teamwork are by far the biggest factors. By the time you get the hang of the game, you should have earned enough experience to unlock quite a bit.

That's not true, the unlockable items make a pretty big difference. I can usually give any player a one-on-one run for their money with a heavy/energy combo, but that's a class that has to be unlocked. So now I'm getting pwnd using heavy/repair while I grind enough points to unlock my class of choice. And it's going to take a while because the grinding is too much in this game. And of course, that's their way for you tp pay money; like all those FTP games.

To everyone thinking that they won't play this because they think people that spent money will "PWNZ0R" them.

No, it doesn't work like that

This game is absolutely brilliant, I've been putting about 2-3 hours a week into it since about the beginning of March this year and I've unlocked 2 classes, a bunch of upgrades for said classes and a new weapon during my time.

The unlockable classes and weapons give you CHOICES, not POWER. There are a few essential upgrades you will need for your classes but these are extremely cheap and you will be able to afford them using the in-game xp (so no real money) after a couple of good rounds of play. Even then, things like the +50 health upgrade for most armours isn't really that big of a deal, when you consider that a good Spinfuser hit will do anything from 500-1000 damage depending on how good your aim is.

Shataan wrote on Apr 12, 2012, 15:40: I remember Tribes 1. It was awesome back in the day. I highly doubt it will ever be eclipsed.

The first Tribes was unique in so many ways. The (by the standards of the day) insanely huge, open maps. Jetpacks, unique weapons. I have such nostalgia for it.

But Tribes 2 was barely tolerable and the unique feel of the first game hasn't been enough to make any of the sequels good. I'd vote for a re-skinning of the original on a new engine, but I doubt it'd still feel as good as it did.